Crispy barbeque beef intestine and chicory salad, followed by ground camel and venison bolognese with Israeli couscous and fennel. That’s what was on the menu this week for Naperville chef Alonso Beckford as he competed on an episode of “Chopped.”
Beckford, executive chef for The Matrix Room and Meg’s Lounge at The Matrix Club, appeared on the popular Food Network competition cooking show Tuesday night.
Though he didn’t leave “Chopped” champion, Beckford, speaking over the phone a few hours before his episode aired, called his time on the show “a really, really great experience.”
“I learned a lot,” he said. “It was definitely different than what I had thought it was, but it was a lot of fun.”
Airing since 2009, each episode of “Chopped” challenges a group of four chefs to vie against one another as they prepare dishes for a panel of judges. Competition is split into three rounds: appetizer, entrée and dessert. The caveat is the chefs must use mystery ingredients selected for them. With each course, one chef is eliminated until there are two left, duking it out to stay off the chopping block.
In an added twist, Beckford competed in a special “Chopped” tournament event where chefs were tasked with bidding on select ingredients in a live auction ahead of each round of competition.
Beckford left the “Chopped” kitchen after the entrée round, but not before telling cameras he was leaving feeling empowered and happy.
Beckford received an email with an opportunity to sign up for the show last year, he said. There were “so many different reasons why” he pursued the opportunity, he said, but chief among them was that he wanted “to try to make the people around (him) proud.”
Beckford, who lives in Aurora, was born in Jamaica but moved to New York with his family when he was 3 or 4 years old, he said. Growing up, cooking came to him naturally. From the time he was 5, it was just something that piqued his interest, he said. He liked to watch people cook.
His greatest influences in the kitchen were his godmother and grandmother.
“You know, I come from an immigrant family,” Beckford said. “My family didn’t go out to eat a lot. Everybody kind of cooked at home.”
He recalled his grandmother keeping her own garden, complete with fresh herbs and vegetables. Around the holidays, she’d always make lasagna. As for his godmother, she was the first person Beckford cooked with, he said. She taught him how to read recipes.
“They played a big part in me becoming a chef and taking this career path,” he said.
Out of high school, Beckford went to culinary school in Miami. From there, his career as a chef took him to kitchens in New York, Atlanta, Orlando and ultimately, the Chicago area.
Beckford was living in Chicago for about six years when the executive chef position with The Matrix Club brought him to the Naperville/Aurora area, he said.
The Matrix Club, which opened in late summer 2023, is a 75,000-square-foot entertainment venue that not only boasts a restaurant and lounge, but can also accommodate banquets, conventions, meetings, parties, live music, theater performances and concerts. It is located in a former Sam’s Club building at 808 S. Route 59.
Beckford says that during his time with The Matrix Club he’s been able to come up with some “really great menus,” which change seasonally.
“I get to try out different food from around the world and try to blend it together into a nice fusion,” he said. “So it’s been really, really fun.”
In that way, Beckford was already primed for the out-of-the-box thinking “Chopped” requires of contestants.
After a months-long casting process, Beckford officially heard that he’d be a part of “Chopped” last August. He flew to New York to film his episode in October.
Asked how filming went, Beckford said it was fast–paced.
“A minute seems like a millisecond and an hour seems like a minute,” he said. “Everything’s just going by so, so fast. Everything’s forever moving.”
Despite being a whirlwind, Beckford said the experience affirmed his love of cooking.
“(I learned) I still love what I do. I don’t ever want to stop cooking, I think,” he said. “I got to meet some great chefs, which was really nice. And I got to see a lot of people pushing forward in their own light in their own right. … It kind of just made me want to push more and do more and continue to try and be better. And to just never stop and give up.”
